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Copyright 2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright 2004 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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coupling between ‘‘volume’’ and interface states, optical-gain properties ofNQDs are significantly different from those of well-studied semiconductornanostructures fabricated <strong>by</strong> epitaxial techniques. The specificity of colloidalnanosystems results in unexpected complications for the development ofoptical gain and stimulated emission such as highly efficient, nonradiativeAuger recombination, and strong photoinduced absorption associated withcarriers trapped at NQD interfaces. On the other hand, NQDs offer numerousadvantages for applications as optical-gain media. These advantages are dueto the wide-range tunability of emission color provided <strong>by</strong> the facile manipulationof NQD sizes, large separations between energy states, and theflexibility of the chemical syntheses used for the NQD fabrication. Usingappropriate materials, one can fabricate strongly confined NQDs emitting inspectral ranges from the far-infrared to ultraviolet. Furthermore, NQDs canbe easily incorporated into transparent host matrices and different photonicstructures including microcavities and photonic crystals.The first demonstrations of NQD lasing devices operating with a widerange of colors indicate a high technological potential of NQD materials asnew types of tunable lasing medium. On the other hand, this work also opensnew and interesting avenues in fundamental research, specifically in the arenaof light–matter interactions in photonic structures. Tunable electronic structuresin NQDs, combined, for example, with a tunable density of photonicstates in high finesse microcavities, can provide a wide range of control overelectron–photon coupling and allow, in principle, a realization of a ‘‘strongcoupling’’regime between NQDs and cavity modes. Such a regime is requiredfor single-dot lasing and quantum information processing using, for example,NQD spins coupled through a microcavity mode.There are currently several important challenges in NQD lasing research.Some of them are associated with materials quality issues and someare of conceptual character. On the materials’ side, further improvements inmonodispersity and surface passivation are required to improve NQD lasingperformance. There is also a need for new, high-quality NQD materials forthe extension of operational wavelengths into infrared and ultraviolet spectralranges. Recent demonstration of high-quality PbSe NQDs [65] is promisingfor realizing lasing in the near-infrared spectral range, specifically in therange of communication wavelengths. Further work on reliable proceduresfor incorporating NQDs into solid-state matrices is an important step towarddurable and stable NQD materials for lasing applications.An important conceptual challenge focuses on carrier electrical injection.Previous approaches to electrical pumping of NQDs were based oncombining NQDs with conducting polymers in hybrid organic–inorganicstructures [66,67]. The performance of these devices was severely limitedbecause of low carrier mobilities in both polymer and NQD device compo-<strong>Copyright</strong> <strong>2004</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Marcel</strong> <strong>Dekker</strong>, <strong>Inc</strong>. <strong>All</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Reserved</strong>.

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